Kidder Family of Note Part II

He (Samuel Philips Kidder) lived on what became known as the Kidder Homestead, picturesquely situated on the East bank of the Merrimac River. ~ Morgan Hewitt Stafford

Samuel Philips Kidder and son Samuel Blodgett Kidder

We wrote about our canal building cousin Samuel Blodgett (2C8X) in out "Canals and the Men who Built Them" post. Another cousin, Samuel Philips Kidder (2C6X) was a close friend and colleague of Samuel Blodgett's. In 1794, Samuel Kidder had moved from Billerica to Manchester, NH to work as Samuel Blodgett's clerk during the early stages of the Amoskeag Canal project. Samuel Kidder also purchased stock in the company to help support the canal endeavor. 

Another more famous resident of Manchester was General John Stark who was the hero of the Battle of Bennington in the Revolutionary War. Bennington turned out to be a key battle that led to the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga. In 1806, Samuel Kidder married John Stark's granddaughter, Elizabeth "Betsey" Stark.

Note: We had another relative that married into the Stark family. Our cousin Benjamin Franklin Stickney married John Stark's daughter Mollie. We wrote about Benjamin in no less than four of our posts.

Samuel and Elizabeth's first son, Samuel Blodgett Kidder (3C5X) was born in December of 1806. A year later, when canal builder Samuel Blodgett died, the elder Samuel Kidder was put in charge of the locks and also named one of the executors of Samuel Blodgett's estate. It seems that Samuel Blodgett had run into many financial difficulties during the building of his canal and he evidently died insolvent. Samuel Kidder was still dealing with the fallout from creditors of the estate six years after Samuel Blodgett's death. Below is a petition signed by him in an effort to get money released for a creditor:

Samuel Kidder's own death must have been unexpected as he died intestate in 1822 at age 54. Betsey, left with six children between the ages of sixteen and one, filed a petition to have his estate settled.

The Kidder family's connection to the Amoskeag Canal continued after the death of both Samuel Blodgett and Samuel P. Kidder.  In 1831, Samuel Blodgett Kidder was named Superintendent of Locks for Samuel Blodgett's canal which then belonged to the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company.   Samuel "had charge of the collection of tolls at both locks and canals." He held this position for 54 years until his death.

We learn a little more about Samuel, Jr. from the Kidder Family Genealogy by our cousin Morgan Hewitt Stafford (6C3X):

He lived on what became known as the Kidder Homestead, picturesquely situated on the East bank of the Merrimac River. . .In this unpretentious house, built around 1820, the Whigs of Manchester met and organized, and from it five of his sons, Charles, Samuel, Leonard, Nathan, and Selwyn (all 4C4X) answered the call to arms and enlited in the Union Army in which they served until the close of the war.

The Kidder home was well known for its elaborate fish, especially salmon, dinners. Fish politics, and personal popularity seem to have attracted many persons of note, for among the guests frequently entertained there were Roscoe Conkling (leader of the Republican Stalwart faction and a dominant figure in the United States Senate during the 1870s.), James G. Blaine (Speaker of the House and twice Secretary of State of the U.S.), Salmon P. Chase (Chief Justice of the U.S.) and Henry Ward Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe), clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery.

Samuel Blodgett Kidder died in the "old Kidder House" in 1885 at age 79.

Publisher Joseph Kidder

Our cousin Joseph Kidder (3C5X) was the son of Samuel Philips Kidder and brother of Samuel Blodgett Kidder. He was born in Manchester, NH in 1819. His father died when he was only four years old. His mother Betsey, granddaughter of General John Stark of Battle of Bennington fame, managed to raise her five children and take care of a hundred acre farm on her own.

Joseph's first job was at age 15 as a clerk in a store. About four years later, he enrolled at the Pembroke Academy where he spent a few years as both a student and assistant teacher. In 1840, while still at Pembroke, Joseph, only 21 at the time, entered the publishing business with his own newspaper, the short lived People's Herald. Possibly experiencing financial difficulties, Joseph sold his paper after publishing only four issues. Publisher Joseph Emerson purchased the paper and hired Joseph to be the editor.

Possibly still on the lookout for other opportunities, Joseph stayed with Emerson for less than a year. He resigned in January of 1842 and four months later went into partnership with our cousin William Hazen Kimball (3C7X).

Note: William's grandparents were Hannah Haseltine (1C9X) and Abraham Kimball (2C9X). Abraham's grandmother was our aunt Mercy Haseltine (9A), daughter of our immigrant grandfather Robert Haseltine (10GGF), one of the founders of Bradford, MA.

Joseph and William established yet another newspaper, the Manchester Democrat. Within a few months, Joseph had taken flight again, selling his interest in the paper. Two years later, he took a job as the editor of the Manchester Saturday Messenger where he stayed until the paper was sold in November of 1847.

Probably needing income after leaving the publishing business, Joseph began working in his brother John's (3C5X) store on Elm Street in Manchester. John sold "dry goods, hardware, flour, grain, cheese and other supplies." The mercantile business obviously agreed with Joseph as he later became co-owner of his brother's business and later a partner of another general store also on Elm Street.

In January of 1851, Joseph's publishing expertise came into play once again when he served on a committee formed to establish a new paper in Manchester, The Union Democrat. He also served the public in Manchester as a member of the school board and later superintendent of schools, president of the Board of Trade, vice president of the Old Folks Historic Association and a trustee of the State Industrial School and the Agricultural College in Durham.

After his retirement from the mercantile business, he devoted his time to two lifelong passions, agriculture and the Order of Odd Fellows which he had joined in 1845. He was not only a member of the Grange, but he was also chaplain of that organization from 1896 until his death in 1902. In 1877, he became the Grand Secretary of the Order of Odd Fellows. Joseph was "completely devoted" to the organization and its charitable works.

Joseph served as Grand Secretary of the I.O.O.F. until his death on October 29, 1902. He "was known affectionately as the 'Grand old man of New Hampshire Odd Fellowship.'" A year after his death the organization erected a monument to honor Joseph's many years of service.

Joseph's life has been chronicled in a diary he began on August 23, 1838, at age 19. He called it "A Manuscript Journal" and began with "Preparatory remarks and suggestions." The first entry began with: "Ours is a world subject to every variety of change which the prolific and inventive mind of man can imagine — yea more" and ended with: "A good resolution…Revolved that not a single day 'shall pass unheard by' without noting down facts and occurrences which have fallen under my own immediate observation and experience." Over the years, Joseph filled 67 journal books, which are now kept in the archives of the Manchester Historic Association.

Reuben Kidder

Our cousin Reuben Kidder (3C6X) was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire in 1768 to the Reuben Kidder (2C7X) who helped found that town. We wrote about the elder Reuben in our "Reuben Kidder" post. Reuben, Jr. graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in law in 1791. Four years later he left his home in New Ipswich and made the trek north to a sparsley populated wilderness area on the Kennebec River in Maine. The town of Waterville, ME sat on the east side of the river across from the fort town of Winslow.

Note: Our cousin Ephraim Ballard (2C7X) had leased land at Fort Halifax in Winslow during the Revolutionary War. He ran an inn for soldiers and was there when Benedict Arnold's army passed through on their way to the Canada invasion in the fall of 1775. We had Ephraim's story in our "The Midwives" posts.

(1) New Ipswich, NH Waterville, ME

Not too long after arriving in Waterville, Reuben "sought the consolation of a companion in his solitude, and soon married Miss Lois Crosby. . ."

Note: Miss Lois Crosby is undoubtedly related to us but I have been unable to trace her lineage.

Reuben and Lois had four sons before Lois' death in 1809. After the death of his wife, Reuben evidently had trouble raising his four boys on his own. He wrote to his sister, the "Widow Ruthie Prescott" (3C6X), who was living in New Ipswich and asked her to come to Waterville "and to bring her two boys as playmates for his older boys. . ." We don't know if Ruth came for a long visit or to stay with Reuben permanently.

According to our cousin Frank E. Kidder (6C3X) who wrote A History of the Kidder Family, Reuben's oldest son George (4C5X) died young. His second son Henry (4C5X) went to sea when he was only 15 and died in Port Au Prince, Haiti in 1815. Third son Camillus (4C5X) went to live with his uncle Josiah Kidder (3C6X) back in New Ipswich. Josiah evidently had no children of his own.

In 1816, Reuben was evidently "touched with the 'Western Fever' which by this time prevailed in Maine." He moved to New Harmony, Indiana but did not take his youngest son Jerome with him. From an 1817 letter that Reuben wrote to his "Honored Mother," we know that Jerome (4C5X) was living with her. As his "Honored Mother" was 83 at the time, she was probably living with one of Reuben's siblings. Reuben made this request of her in the letter: ". . .if she finds young Jerome not too old for that attention, he solicits her to imprint 3 kisses on his behalf on the boy's cheek."

Frank Kidder wrote that, in Indiana, Reuben's "hopes were not realized; he was doomed to sadness and disappointment. He died in 1817, a year after his removal." Arthur Trusdale, a grandson of Camullus Kidder, had conflicting information in a memoir he wrote of his family called The Kidder Chronicle. Trusdale gleaned a lot of information about his great-grandfather from a lenghtly 1825 letter that Reuben wrote to his son Jerome, who was 17 at the time and living in Boston.

From the letter we learn that Reuben had found the law profession unprofitable so he had bought a plantation. He had also married a widow with an 8 year old son. He was hoping the boy would "be educated and cared for by the famous Robert Owen Community in New Harmony." Robert Owen was a wealthy Welsh manufacturer who had moved to New Harmony. In Wikipedia he is described as a philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer who was one of the founders of utopian socialism.

Owens "experimental socialistic community" in New Harmony only lasted for two years so Reuben's stepson had to find other means of education.

Reuben also wrote that he wanted his son to join him in Indiana but he "did not have the coin" to pay for Jerome's traveling expenses. Jerome was evidently toying with the idea of going to South America and, in the letter, Reuben urged him "NOT" to go, probably remembering his son Henry's bad luck in Port Au Prince.

The chances are great that Jerome never joined his father in New Harmony. Reuben died only a year after writing to his son. From the New Harmony Gazette:

October 18, 1826 - Ruben Kidder dead 52 years old attorney late of Boston, Mass. Also Abraham Penfold 47 late of Surry, England both dead of typhus.

Our cousin Frank E. Kidder (6C3X) in his History of the Kidder Family wrote about Reuben:

Mr. Kidder was a man of good personal appearance, much general information, and fine colloquial powers. His wit and humor were conspicuous; they pervaded him, appearing in his countenance and gestures, as well as in his utterances. The most stern visage would relax the moment Mr. Kidder imagined a joke; you saw it dawning in his look, and when it rose full upon you, you felt a glow of real pleasure. Mr. Kidder was a man of abilities, and had considerable business at the bar, and was much respected for his gentlemanly qualities and his integrity of character; but he did not attain eminence as an advocate.

He was a sound and good lawyer; and in person of more than medium size, a little stooping. He was honorable in his profession, and was a man of fine tastes. He set out a grove of oaks half a mile from the village of Waterville, to which he often repaired in summer from the heat, and called it his Athenaeum. He used to wear a bouquet in summer at his buttonhole.

Samuel Kidder's yeast powder

Our cousin Samuel Kidder (4C5X) was born in Medford, MA in 1781. From Frank Kidder's History of the Kidder Family:

"Dr. Kidder," as he was generally known, began business in Charlestown in 1804 as an apothecarey and chemist. He established and for nearly fifty years headed the firm of Samuel Kidder & Co., of that place, well known manufacturing chemists, he personally originated most of its products, many of which are still extensively known and used in the drug trade. After more than a century and a quarter the old sign is still in place on the front of the original shop and factory on Main Street. His estate on Cordis Street, Charleston, was

famous for the extent and beauty of its gardens. In 1840 he returned to Medford where he resided until late in life, finally living until his death with his son at Lowell.

He possessed unusual eyesight and was a remarkably fine penman. When nearing seventy years he wrote the Lord's Prayer within the space of a dime without the aid of glasses, and in half that space the glasses.

The American Antiquarian Society featured one of Samuel's labels for his yeast powder in their online exhibition which displayed various printed material that "help shed light on major changes in the way Americans in the North produced and sold their food. . ."

A broadside ad for Samuel's yeast powder which included recipes (Receipts) is now housed in the Library of Congress:

Artist James Kidder

Our cousin James Kidder (4C5X) was born in Medford in 1793. The information we have on him comes from the William Vareika Fine Arts Gallery in Newport, RI:

Artist and engraver James Kidder was born in Boston in 1793. Kidder displayed remarkable skill in drawing at an early age and was considered an artistic prodigy. He published his first aquatint engraving, entitled “View of Boston Common” in Polyanthus, a Boston monthly magazine, in 1813 at age twenty.

Kidder specialized in topographical views and public buildings in and around Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. As a young man of twenty-three, Kidder was known to Rhode Islanders for his dramatic oil painting of the devastation of the Providence waterfront by the great gale of 1815. In the following year, Kidder reproduced the painting in a popular print he entitled, “A Representation of the Great Storm at Providence, Sept 23, 1815.”

His view of Brown University in Providence–the original drawing completed as early as 1823, the lithograph produced circa 1828-31–was the model for several later depictions of the University.

In 1823 Kidder was working for Boston engraver Abel Bowen, and worked for Senefelder Lithographic Company between1828 and 1831. From 1830 Kidder maintained a studio on Winter Street in Boston. During this period Kidder painted views of the White Mountains of New Hampshire along with scenes of Boston and the Massachusetts coast.

He seems for a time to have been associated with his brother William (4C5X) as a broker. He produced a print entitled, “Broker’s Office,” depicting William’s place of business in Boston.

"Broker's office," now titled "Interior of a Lottery," is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York:

James had another “gentleman Broker” brother, Thompson (4C5X), for whom he produced in 1810-16 two complete sets of perspective watercolor views of Thompson’s Medford, Massachusetts house and gardens. James Kidder’s work was exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum.

James died in Boston at the young age of 44.